Adriamycin-Induced Kidney Injury in Mice

A total of 18 female BALB/c mice (6 to 8 weeks old) were purchased from the Model Animal Research Center of Nanfang Medical University (Guangdong, China). All animal experiments were performed according to the ARRIVE guidelines [19 (link)] and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Guangzhou Medical University (Approval No: 2017-224; Guangdong, China). Mice were divided into three groups with six mice in each group: normal control group (Con), adriamycin-injured group (ADR), and adriamycin and K93 (KN-93 phosphate, Selleck Chemicals)-treated group (ADR + K93). A total of 12 mice were injected once with ADR (12 mg/kg body weight) via the tail vein on day 0 [16 (link),20 (link)], and 6 control mice were injected with an equal volume of saline solution. A total of 6 ADR mice were intraperitoneally injected with K93 at a dose of 0.08 mg/kg body weight on days 1, 3, and 5. Finally, mice were anesthetized with ketamine (70 mg/kg, i.p.) before euthanasia on day 7. Then, arterial blood was collected for ELISA, and kidney tissues were collected for western blotting, HE staining, immumohistochemical staining, and TUNEL staining analyses. A mouse creatinine kit (Cayman Chemical, USA) was used to measure serum creatinine levels in mice according to the manufacturer’s instructions.